1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a computer system and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a computer system and a control method thereof which returns to a normal mode by a wake-up unit in a standby mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a computer system restricts power supply to a predetermined device in a predetermined condition to minimize power consumption. Details regarding such power management are described in an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification that is an open industry specification co-developed by several companies. Hereinafter, “standby mode” refers to a mode where a power supply is cut off to a predetermined device to minimize power consumption. According to the ACPI specification, the standby mode may be an S1 state to S3 state.
An operating system (OS) of a computer system such as Microsoft Windows enables a user to set a power management environment for each device through a so-called ‘device manager’. Accordingly, the device monitors whether a wake-up event occurs in the standby mode and transmits a monitoring result to its system. Hereinafter, the device is also called a “wake-up device”. The wake-up device may include a keyboard, a mouse, a network card, an audio card, a modem, and other conventional devices.
FIG. 1 is a flow diagram to illustrate a standby mode setting and operation in a conventional computer system.
Referring to FIG. 1, a user may set through a ‘device manager’ whether to operate each wake-up device in the standby mode at operation S11. For example, if the wake-up device is the mouse, in the Microsoft Windows, a user may select ‘pull the computer out of standby mode with this device’ in ‘device manager’→‘mouse register information’→‘power management’ to set the mouse to perform an operation in the standby mode (hereinafter, “wake-up device user setting” or “user setting”).
Then, the OS of the computer system confirms if it enters the standby mode during normal operation (hereinafter, also called “normal mode”) at operation S12. If a condition for entering into the standby mode is satisfied at operation S12, the OS of the computer system confirms the wake-up device user setting before entering into the standby mode at operation S13, and performs environment setting of the wake-up device (hereinafter, also called “system setting”) by which a predetermined wake-up device is set to be operable in the standby mode at S14. If the environment setting of the wake-up device is completed, the OS of the computer system controls the system to enter into the standby mode at operation S15. In the standby mode, the wake-up device which has been set to be operable monitors if a corresponding wake-up event occurs at operation S16, and informs the system of the occurrence of the wake-up event when the wake-up event occurs. Accordingly, the OS of the computer system restores the system to a state that existed before the standby mode was entered into and to be operable in the normal mode at operation S17.
However, according to the conventional computer system, the power supply supplying power to the wake-up device is performed in the standby mode irrespective of an actual operation of the wake-up device. Therefore, although a certain wake-up device is set not to be operable in the standby mode by the user, a standby power is always supplied to the wake-up device in the standby mode, thereby causing wasteful power consumption.